BUFFALO, N.Y. — Already known for merging proven science
classwork with state-of-the-art technology, University at Buffalo
faculty member Randy Yerrick has taken on another role to help
bring science educational resources into the digital age.

Yerrick, professor of learning and instruction in the UB
Graduate School of Education, is the new director of electronic
communications for the National Association for Research in Science
Teaching (NARST), one of the country’s oldest and most
respected science education research organizations. NARST publishes
the Journal in Research and Science Teaching, considered by many to
be one of the most prestigious journals in all the social sciences,
including science education.

“We have years of member data speaking to the specific
need to upgrade electronic communications of the
organization,” says Yerrick, also associate dean for
inter-professional education and engagement in the GSE. “The
NARST leadership team is excited about the new changes. We look
forward to upgrading our tools of communication and working toward
a more open and collaborative environment.”

NARST President Lynn A. Bryan said she chose Yerrick to direct
the organization’s electronic communications with the goal of
instigating major changes.

“With nearly 1,700 members, our organization was in need
of a more dynamic, flexible and organized system of electronic
communications — not only within the organization, but also
with external constituencies,” Bryan says. “For
example, in recent years, NARST’s online presence has been at
a virtual standstill, with our website serving essentially as a
repository for PDF documents.

“Dr. Yerrick has been instrumental in developing and
implementing a long-term strategic agenda that will allow the NARST
leadership to engage in more effective and responsive interactions
with its members. He is leading major changes in the way NARST
conducts its business and disseminates information — for
example, by employing the latest web-based technologies and social
media to keep information current and accessible; facilitating the
use of web-based collaboration spaces for committees, research
interests groups and the leadership team; and ensuring high-quality
and consistent standards for all of our electronic
communications.”

While Yerrick recognizes the need to upgrade communications
within the NARST organization quickly, he also urges patience so
that these changes can be made in a coordinated and thoughtful way
that fit the priorities of the organization.

“While the plan is to transform NARST entirely to a
digital age of organization collaboration, some steps take
time,” says Yerrick. “Most people think of a web page
presence as digital communication, but it is so much
more.

“One thing we have learned here at UB is that website
development is a deliberate, thoughtful and often slow process. It
will be incremental to design tools into the site that meet the
needs of the membership. It is certainly a priority of the board,
but it is non-trivial and analogous to changing a tire on a moving
car.”

Yerrick says the group is developing some immediate responses,
such as building a collaborative board member space and social
media outlets.

“These are staged rollouts of larger visions for our
digital presence,” he says.

NARST member suggestions included changes to the NARST web page,
video conferencing, social bookmarking of NARST resources, hosted
podcasts, social media, videostream channels, firewall-protected
communities to collaborate, e-publications and e-books, blogs and
revisiting the eNARST News and hosting of the NARST Listserv.

“While we would like to develop and host most of these
capabilities immediately, we need to have strategic priorities to
assure that the rollouts of these upgrades are highly effective and
responsive to members,” says Yerrick.

The priorities are driven by NARST leaders’ commitment to
open and clear communication of the organization, and the need for
transparency and responsiveness of the elected leadership to the
membership.

Yerrick has long been committed to taking the extra cyberspace
step to make science teaching tools as accessible as possible
— for teachers and students. His podcasts of science teaching
methods demonstrated in actual classrooms are posted on iTunes UB,
an online repository that more than 900 universities use to deliver
content for distance education and purposes. iTunes U is available
free for anyone who has ever downloaded a song for 99 cents on an
iPod or any mobile device.

Yerrick has been a passionate and tireless advocate for
improving science education through technology, and recently has
been asked to give keynote speeches and present STEM (science,
technology, engineering and math) workshops in Singapore, Hong
Kong, China and Jakarta. Having access to high-quality science
education seems of particular importance for Asian countries at a
time of global competition and when many universities compete for
the best science students.

Other electronic changes NARST members can expect in the near
future include more frequent updates from NARST president Bryan
instead of more general listserv announcements sent by email; an
electronic NARST newsletter posted online rather than a posted PDF
file; a video archive of presidential addresses given at the
organization’s annual meeting, and an electronic program
rather than the paper and CD program NARST has circulated at its
annual meeting.

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